


Stay Here (Please)

by christallized



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, I don't know if the rating was too harsh but, It's mostly angst - Freeform, M/M, More angst, Oneshot, at least the ending isnt complete angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:56:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25418050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/christallized/pseuds/christallized
Summary: A gift to Username8746489, who gave me the prompt:"What if there was an angst fic where Nathaniel had to die for some reason or other in front of Marc and/or Alix but he didn't want to so he kept begging for them to save them and that he didn't want to die"
Relationships: Marc Anciel/Nathaniel Kurtzberg
Comments: 20
Kudos: 34
Collections: MarcNath Fics!





	Stay Here (Please)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Username8746489](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Username8746489/gifts).



_When you see an Akuma, run._

_Run in the opposite direction._

_Run as far as you can._

_You can't win._

_You can't fight._

_You can only run._

Marc ran.

The Akuma waved a hand, carelessly, and the buildings next to him vaporized in a flash of light and a sound similar to a thunderclap, but so much closer and so, so much more terrifying.

He heard screaming, the blood pounding in his ears, his footsteps on the gravel street. His vision was blurry, unfocused-whether because of the shaking of the ground around him or the fear-reactive tears that were quickly welling up in his eyes, he couldn't tell.

The school was in front of him, still undamaged.

_Nathaniel._

If he was fast enough-

A shockwave knocked Marc off his feet. His shoulder hit the ground first, followed by his head, his back, his legs-he scrambled back up, ignoring the pain, the blood.

He had to get to the school.

He ran up the steps, half-crazed with fear. Students were pouring out of the building now, a sea of wild eyes and frenzied limbs. He pushed his way against them, fighting, crawling, searching.

 _Nathaniel_.

It was impossible to tell where he was exactly. The crowd of people towered over him, pushing past him, making a swirling, unfocused vortex that kept him unbalanced.

“Nath!” He yelled, his voice muted and practically insignificant among the explosions, the chaos. He could barely hear his own voice, but he screamed anyway. “Nathaniel!”

He searched the crowd for a glimpse of red hair, blue eyes, gray jacket, anything, where was he, where was he, oh god-

“Marc!”

A hand grabbed his and pulled him through the crowd, keeping a death grip on his wrist as another hand grabbed his jacket and he was pulled under the stairs, out of the crowd.

Slowly, Marc's vision came back into focus as his red-haired boyfriend brushed the dirt off his jacket, placing a hand on his forehead. Alix crouched down with him, her arm still around his wrist.

“Marc, are you okay?”

Marc felt panic beginning to build pressure in his throat and chest. He could only gasp for breath and clutch Nathaniel's jacket like a lifeline as he fought to bring his tears back under control.

“It's okay,” Nathaniel said, pulling Marc into a hug. Marc could only sob uncontrollably, feeling like he might throw up. Nathaniel, _sweet, incredible Nathaniel_ , held him close, talking softly and calmly.

Nathaniel cupped Marc's face in his hands. “Hey,” he said, pressing their foreheads together. “Hey. Shhhhh. It's okay.”

“We need to leave,” Alix said, peering out past their safe haven, watching the stampede of students and teachers alike fighting to push their way out of the door. “If we can make it to the basement we'll be safe.”

“Marc, can you look at me?”

Marc hiccuped and wiped his eyes and nose with the sleeve of his jacket, looking into Nathaniel's calm cerulean eyes.

“We're going to get through this,” Nath said, keeping eye contact. “I promise I won't let anything happen to you.”

Alix clapped a hand on Marc's shoulder. “We'll be okay,” she assured the writer. “You've got me, after all!”

Marc smiled, a single laugh managing to escape his crying. “Thank....thank you,” he said.

“Come on.” Alix took Nathaniel's hand, and Nathaniel turned to grab Marc's hand. “If we can make it to that door we can get to the basement. On my mark.”

Nathaniel gave Marc's hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Now!”

They surged forward, back into the mass of people.

Elbows and knees knocked against them, pushing them off balance, but Alix pushed through like a bulldozer. Someone's hand struck the shoulder that Marc had fallen on, and he bit his lip to keep out the sudden cry of pain that sprang to his lips.

Then they were free, running towards the door, hands intertwined, focused, running-

Marc felt the tremble underneath his feet, the sound of thunder, and his blood ran cold.

Multiple things happened at once.

A flash of light turned the school into a burning hell.

The students began screaming, louder, worse.

The stones in the schoolyard began to crumble and loosen.

Nathaniel let go of Marc's hand, pushing him backwards, away from him.

The world went dark.

~oOo~

When he was nine, Marc's mother had once called pest control for an excessive amount of bugs in their home.

He didn't remember the man's face, but he remembered how the man had sprayed something in their home while they sat in the car, the air conditioning unit running, the sun hot in the sky and making the air in the car stuffy. He'd read books.

He remembered walking back into the house after about two hours to see thousands of dead flies scattered across every surface.

Looking out across the streets at the hundreds of bodies, Marc had a sickening feeling of similarity-like he was nine years old again, staring at the corpses spread over every counter top and table and floor.

He pressed his palms flat against the ground, making a move to get to his feet.

The world careened around his head, and he fell again.

_Everything hurts._

Slowly, Marc forced himself to move, inch by inch, until he was sitting. He felt dizzy, disoriented.

The school was gone, opening into an empty sky full of smoke and ash.

_Nathaniel._

“Nathaniel,” Marc croaked, wincing at the pain in his throat. His tongue felt dry and useless, his lips cracked. His bottom lip had split, and he could taste blood, slowly trickling down his throat.

Marc saw Alix first, her eyes staring at him, blue and open wide. Details were indistinguishable with his vision swimming like this, but he recognized her pink hair, spread out across the floor around her head.

“Alix,” he whispered, crawling over to her. “Alix, are you okay?”

Alix stared back at him.

“Hey,” he said, grabbing her shoulder and gently shaking her. “Hey, let's go.”

She didn't move.

“Alix,” he said, a little more desperately. “Come on.”

After a few minutes, his vision finally came back into focus. The moment his eyesight returned, he let go of Alix, biting back a scream.

Half of her body flopped back to the ground, eyes lifeless and open, ashes pooling into the corners of her sclera.

The other half was gone.

Marc felt his stomach churning. Practically hurling himself away from his friend's body, he turned and threw up, heaving his lunch, his stomach, and eventually, nothing, onto what was once the schoolyard ground.

“Oh god,” he choked. “Oh, god.”

_Nathaniel._

Slowly, he got to his feet. The akuma was gone now, he could barely hear the rumbles of distant thunder. Other than that, there was only the crackling of fire as pieces of doors and window frames slowly burned. Everything else was silent, dead.

“Nathaniel!” He called, ignoring the burn in his raw throat.

“M...Marc?”

Marc spun around, but there were only bodies. “Nathaniel?”

“I'm here,” a voice said, followed by a sputtering cough.

Marc followed the sound to a pile of rubble and began circling around it to find his friend on the ground, hidden in an alcove made of broken rock and cement.

The good news was that part of the staircase had broken off and planted itself firmly in the ground, providing cover from the tons of rock above Nathaniel's head.

The bad news was that the supporting beam of that staircase had buried itself deep into Nathaniel's stomach.

Marc stared at the large metal beam soaked in red, staining the orange hues of Nathaniel's shirt into a darker shade. This couldn't be real.

Nathaniel's eyes fluttered open, looking dully up at Marc. “Marc,” he whispered. “You're okay.” A smile filled with more blood than teeth spread across the artist's face.

“No, no, no,” Marc gasped, collapsing to his knees in front of his boyfriend. “Fuck, this has to be a nightmare, Nathaniel-”

Nathaniel laughed, an ugly, gurgling sound that made Marc's heart twist horribly. “Why....are you the one panicking?”

Marc swallowed, crawling closer to Nathaniel, all too aware of the danger just above their heads, no longer caring. “Hey,” he whispered, carefully brushing the dust and blood from his boyfriend's face. “Hey, you're going to be okay.”

Nathaniel's smile faded. “Marc,” he said.

“You're going to be okay.” Marc was shaking.

“Marc.”

“You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay.” Marc felt the tears running down his cheeks again, scalding and stinging against the cuts on his face. “You're going to be okay. You're going...fuck,” he broke, hiding his face in his hands and rocking back and forth. “Fuck.”

Nathaniel's hand inched closer to Marc, who grabbed it and pressed it to his chest. “Please don't go,” he whispered.

Marc nodded. “I'm not going anywhere. I promise.”

“Marc.”

“Yeah?”

“I'm scared.”

Marc could feel his heart splintering into glass. “I know,” he whispered, running his fingers through Nathaniel's' hair. “I know.”

“Please don't go,” Nathaniel said, tears starting to leak from his eyes. “Please don't leave me.”

“I'm not going anywhere.”

“I don't want to die.”

Marc was biting his lips hard enough to taste new blood.

“I don't want to die,” Nathaniel continued, his chest shaking with weak, unsteady breaths. “I'm not ready...please, Marc. Marc.”

“I'm here,” Marc said.

“Where are you?” Nathaniel's eyes were closed, but tears were still tracking down his dusty face. “Marc?”

“I'm here.”

“Marc, I'm scared.”

“I know.”

“Marc, I can't-I can't open my eyes.” Nathaniel was struggling to breathe, blood trickling from his lips.

“Shhhh,” Marc whispered. “I'm here.”

“Marc, please.”

“Just keep focusing on my voice, o...okay?” Marc's voice trembled.

“...”

A cold feeling settled into Marc's gut, like a block of ice had encased his stomach and frozen his insides. “Nathaniel?”

Nathaniel let out a slow breath.

“Nathaniel, stay with me,” Marc pleaded.

Nathaniel didn't answer.

“No.”

…

“Please, say something.”

…

Marc's head dropped to Nathaniel's chest as he screamed.

~oOo~

It felt like hours until a rush of wind and ladybugs scattered through the air. Everything returned to normal.

The students got up, looking at each other with confused glances, and silently, wordlessly returned to their classrooms. The stones and rubble of the surrounding area healed and melded back into their former structure, a blank slate clean of everything the school had suffered from, as though it had never happened at all.

Nathaniel woke up under the stairs, with Marc's head on his chest.

“Hey,” he said, and Marc's eyes fluttered open. “Sleep well?”

“What happened?” Marc asked, his voice a little groggy.

Nathaniel shrugged. “I guess we fell asleep,” he said, trying to push away the distant, terrible feeling in the back of his head, too vivid to be a dream, too indistinct to be a memory.

Marc wrapped his arms around Nathaniel, pulling him close.

Nathaniel didn't hesitate and hugged him back.

Neither of them said anything. Neither one wanted to, afraid that by sharing that cold feeling in the back of their minds, they'd find something that they didn't want to remember.

“Come on,” Nathaniel said, getting to his feet. “Looks like school's out for today.”

Marc grabbed Nathaniel's hand. “Do you mind if I...stay with you for a bit?” He looked away, hugging the other arm against his side.

“Oh.” Nathaniel nodded, giving Marc's hand a reassuring squeeze. “Sure.”

Together, they walked out of the school, away from memories that no longer existed, ready to make better memories of their own.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sad now and it's your fault UN
> 
> Also, the magical Ladybug power of plot convenience because superhero work doesn't pay for PTSD therapy


End file.
